THE 
GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

HOUSEHOLD ARTS 

By 
EVA W. WHITE 



GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD 

61 Broadway New York 

1918 



HOUSEHOLD ARTS 



THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

The results of the study of the Gary Pubhc 
Schools, undertaken on the invitation of the Super- 
intendent and the Board of Education of Gary, will 
be published in eight parts, as follows: 

The Gary Schools: A General Account 

By Abraham Flexner and Frank P. Bachman 

(25 Cents) 

Organization and Administration 
George D. Strayer and Frank P. Bachman 

(15 Cents) 

Costs 
Frank P. Bachman and Ralph Bowman 

(25 Cents) 

Industrial Work 
Charles R. Richards 

(25 Cents) 

Household Arts 
Eva W. White 

(10 Cents) 

Physical Training and Play 

Lee F. Hanmer 

(10 Cents) 

Science Teaching 
Otis W. Caldwell 

(10 Cents) 

Measurement of Classroom Products 
Stuart A. Courtis 

(30 Cents) 

Any report will be sent postpaid on receipt of the 
amount above specified. 



THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



HOUSEHOLD ARTS 



BY 

EVA \V. AVIIITE 



GENERAL EDUCATTOX BOARD 

61 Broadway New York City 

1918 






COPYRIGHT, I9I9, 

BY 

General Education Bo.veb 



JAN 16 \m 

ICI.A5ll3r3 

^— {.-TO I 



- ^ 



CONTENTS 



PACE 



Introduction vii 

I. Aim of Household Arts Work ... 2 

A. COOKING 

II. Time Schedule and Enrollment . . 3 

III. The Cafeteria 12 

IV. Staff and Instruction 17 

V. Tests 23 

VI. Merits and Defects 28 

B. SEWING 

VII. Time Schedule and Enrollment . . :^^ 

VIII. Equipment, Staff ant) Instruction . . 39 

IX. Tests 41 

X. Merits and Defects 44 



INTRODUCTION 

The G.vry Plan 

In the last few years both lawmen and professional 
educators have engaged in a lively controversy as to the 
merits and defects, advantages and disadvantages of 
what has come to be called the Gary idea or the Gary 
plan. The rapidly increasing literature bearing on the 
subject is, however, deficient in details and too often 
partisan in tone. The present study was undertaken 
by the General Education Board at the request of the 
Gary school authorities for the purpose of presenting an 
accurate and comprehensive account of the Gary schools 
in their significant aspects. 

In the several volumes in which the main features of 
the Gary schools are separately considered, the reader 
will observe that, after presenting facts, each of the 
authors discusses or — in technical phrase — attempts to 
evaluate the Gary plan from the angle of his particular 
interest. Facts were gathered in a patient, painstaking, 
and objective fasliion; and those who want facts, and 
facts only, will, it is believed, find them in the descriptive 
and statistical portions of the respective studies. But 
the successive volumes will discuss principles, as well as 



viii INTRODUCTION 

state facts. That is, the authors will not only describe 
the Gary schools in the frankest manner, as they found 
them, but they will also endeavor to interpret them in the 
light of the large educational movement of which they 
are part. An educational conception may be sound or 
unsound; any particular effort to embody an educa- 
tional conception may be adequate or inadequate, effec- 
tive or ineffective. The public is interested in knowing 
whether the Gary schools as now conducted are efficient 
or inefficient; the public is also interested in knowing 
whether the plan as such is sound or unsound. The 
present study tries to do justice to both points. 

What is the Gary plan? 

Perhaps, in the first instance, the essential features of 
the Gary plan can be made clear, if, instead of trying to 
tell what the Gary plan is, we tell what it is not. Ex- 
cept for its recent origin and the unusual situation as 
respects its foreign population, Gary resembles many 
other industrial centers that are to be found throughout 
the country. Now, had Gary provided itself with the 
type of school commonly found in other small industrial 
American towns, we should find there half a dozen or 
more square brick "soap-box" buildings, each accom- 
modating a dozen classes pursuing the usual book studies, 
a playground, with little or no equipment, perhaps a 
basement room for manual training, a laboratory, and a 
cooking room for the girls. Had Gary played safe, this 
is the sort of school and school equipment that it would 
now possess. Provided with this conventional school 



INTRODUCTION ix 

system, the town would have led a conventional school 
life — quiet, unoffending, and negatively happy — doing 
as many others do, doing it about as well as they do it 
and satisfied to do just that. 

As contrasted with education of this meager type, the 
Gary plan is distinguished by two features, intimately 
connected with each other: 

First — the enrichment and diversification of the 
curriculum; 

Second — the administrative device that, for want of a 
better name, will be tentatively termed the duplicate 
school organization. 
These two features must first be considered in general 
terms, if the reader is to understand the detailed descrip- 
tion and discussion. 

As to the curriculum and school activities. WTiile 
the practice of education has in large part continued 
to follow traditional paths, tlie progressive literature of 
the subject has abounded in constructive suggestions 
of far-reaclung practical significance. Social, political, 
and industrial changes have forced upon the school 
responsibilities formerly laid upon the home. Once the 
school had mainly to teach the elements of knowledge; 
now the school is charged witli the physical, mental, and 
social training of the cliild. To meet these needs a 
changed and enriched curriculum, including community 
activities, facilities for recreation, shop work, and house- 
hold arts, has been urged on the content side of school 
work; the transformation of school aims and discipline 



X INTRODUCTION 

on the basis of modem psychology, ethics, and social 
philosophy has been for similar reasons recommended on 
the side of attitude and method. 

These things have been in the air. Every one of them 
has been tried and is being practised in some form or 
other, somewhere or other. In probably every large 
city in the country efforts have been made, especially in 
the more recent school plants, to develop some of the 
features above mentioned. There has been a distinct, 
unmistakable, and general trend toward making the 
school a place where children "live" as well as "learn." 
This movement did not originate at Gary; nor is Gary its 
only evidence. It is none the less true that perhaps no- 
where else have the schools so deliberately and explicitly 
avowed this modern policy. The Gary schools are oflBi- 
cially described as "work, study, and play" schools — 
schools, that is, that try to respond adequately to a many- 
sided responsibility; how far and with what success, the 
successive reports of the Gary survey will show. 

It must not, however, be supposed that the enriched 
curriculum was applied in its present form at the out- 
set or that it is equally well developed in all the Gary 
schools. Far from it. There has been a distinct and 
uneven process of development at Gary; sometimes, as 
subsequent chapters will show, such rapid and unstable 
development that our account may in certain respects 
be obsolete before it is printed. When the Emerson 
school was opened in 1909, the equipment in laboratories, 
shops, and museums, while doubtless superior to what 



INTRODUCTION xi 

was offered by other towns of the Gary t}pe, could have 
been matched by what was to be found in many of the 
better favored larger towns and cities at tlie same period. 
The g>Tnnasium, for example, was not more than one 
third its present size; the industrial work was not un- 
precedented in kind or extent; the boys had woodwork, 
the girls cooking and sewing. But progress was rapid: 
painting and printing were added in 191 1; the foundr}-, 
forge, and machine shop in 19 13. The opportunities 
for girls were enlarged by the addition of the cafeteria in 
1913. The auditorium reached its present extended use 
as recently as the school year 1913-14. The Froebel 
school, first occupied in the fall of 191 2, started with 
facilities similar to those previously introduced piecemeal 
into the Emerson. 

These facihties, covering in their development a period 
of years, represent the effort to create an elementary 
school more nearly adequate to tlic needs of modem 
urban life. The curriculum is enriched by various ac- 
tivities in the fields of industry, science, and recreation. 
Questions as to the efficiency with which these varied 
activities have been administered wOl be discussed by 
the various contributors to the present study. Mean- 
while, it is perhaps only fair to point out that the modem 
movement calls not only for additions to, but elimina- 
tions from, the curriculum and for a critical attitude 
toward the products of classroom teaching. How far, on 
the academic side, the Gary schools reflect this aspect 
of the modem movement will also presently appear. 



3di INTRODUCTION 

The administrative device — the "duplicate" organiza- 
tion, noted above as the second characteristic feature of 
the Gary plan — stands on a somewhat different footing, 
as the following considerations make plain. 

Once more, Mr. Wirt was not the inventor of the in- 
tensive use of school buildings, though he was among the 
first — if not the very first — to perceive the purely educa- 
tional advantage to which the situation could be turned. 
The rapidity with which American cities have grown has 
created a difficult problem for school administrators — 
the problem of providing space and instruction for chil- 
dren who increase in number faster than buildings are 
constructed. The problem has been handled in various 
ways. In one place, the regular school day has been 
shortened and two different sets of children attending at 
different hours have been taught daily in one building 
and by one group of teachers. Elsewhere, as in certain 
high schools, a complete double session has been con- 
ducted. The use of one set of schoolrooms for more than 
one set of children each day did not therefore originate 
at Gary. 

Another point needs to be considered before we discuss 
the so-called duplicate feature of the Gary plan. In 
American colleges, subjects have commonly been taught 
by specialists, not by class teachers. The work is "de- 
partmentalized" — to use the technical term. There is 
a teacher of Latin, a teacher of mathematics, a teacher 
of physics, who together instruct every class — not a 
separate teacher of each class in all subjects. Latterly, 







1 ,1 ^jRflkV ' 




INTRODUCTION xiii 

departmentalization has spread from the college into 
the high school, until nowadays well organized high 
schools and the upper grades of elementary schools arc 
quite generally ''departmentalized,'' i.e., organized with 
special teachers for the several subjects, rather than 
with one teacher for each grade. 

Out of these two elements. Gar}- has evolved an admin- 
istrative device, the so-called duplicate school, which, 
from the standpoint of its present educational signifi- 
cance, does indeed represent a definite innovation. 

For the sake of clearness, it will be well to explain the 
theory of the duplicate school by a simplified imaginary 
example : 

Let us suppose that elementary school facilities have 
to be provided for, say, i,6oo children. If each class is 
to contain a maximum of 40 children, a schoolhouse of 
40 rooms would formerly have been built, with perhaps 
a few additional rooms, little used, for special activities; 
except during the recess (12 to 1:30) each recitation 
room would be in practically continuous use in the old- 
line subjects from 9 to 3 :^o, when school is adjourned till 
next morning. A school plant of this kind may be 
represented by Figure I, each square representing a 
schoolroom. 

The "duplicate" school proposes a different solution. 
Instead of providing 40 classrooms for 40 classes, it 
requires 20 classrooms, capable of holding 800 children; 
and further, playgrounds, laboratories, shops, gardens, 
gymnasium, and auditorium, also capable of holding 



XIV 



INTRODUCTION 



800 children. If, now, 800 children use the classrooms 
while 800 are using the other facilities, morning and after- 
noon, the entire plant accommodates 1,600 pupils 
throughout the school day; and the curriculum is greatly 
enriched, since, without taking away anything from their 
classroom work, they are getting other branches also. A 
school thus equipped and organized may be represented 

FIGURE I 
REPRESENTS OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOLHOUSE 



40 rooms for 40 classes, of 40 children each, i. e., facilities for the academic instruc- 
tion of 1,600 children. A school yard and an extra room or two, little used, for special 
activities, are also usually found. 



















































































by Figure II, in which A represents 20 classes taking 
care of 40 children each (800 children) , and B represents 
special faciUties taking care of 800 children. As A 
and B are in simultaneous operation, 1,600 children are 
cared for. 

This method of visualizing the "duplicate" school 
serves to correct a common misconception. The plan 
aims to intensify the use of schoolrooms; yet it would be 



INTRODUCTION xv 

incorrect to say that 20 classrooms, instead of 40, 
as under the old plan, accommodate 1,600 children. 
For while the number of classrooms has been reduced 
from 40 to 20, special facilities of equal capacity have 
been added in the form of auditorium, shops, play- 
ground, etc. The 20 classrooms apparently saved 

FIGURE n 
REPRESENTS THE GARY EQUIPMENT 
A B 

20 classrooms for academic instruction Special facilities, takinR care of Soochil- 

of 20 classes of 40 children each (800 chil- drcn in the mominR hours and an equal 
drcn) in the morning hours and an equal number in the afternoon hours (1,600 in all 
number in the aftcrnwn (i.Ooo in all daily) daily) 













Auditorium 












Shops 












Laboratories 












Playground, gardens, 
gymnasium and library 



have been replaced by special facilities of one kind or 
another. The so-called duplicate organization and 
the longer school day make it possible to give larger 
facilities to twice as many children as the classrooms alone 
would accommodate. The duplicate school, as devel- 
oped at Gary, is not therefore a device to relieve conges- 
tion or to reduce expense, but the natural result of 
efforts to provide a richer school life for all children. 



JEvi INTRODUCTION 

The enriched curriculum and the duplicate organ- 
ization support each other. The social situation re- 
quires a scheme of education fairly adequate to the 
entire scope of the child's activities and possibilities; 
this cannot be achieved without a longer school day and 
a more varied school equipment. The duphcate school 
endeavors to give the longer day, the richer curriculum, 
and the more varied activities with the lowest possible 
investment in, and the most intensive use of, the school 
plant. The so-called duplicate school is thus a single 
school with two different t}^es of facilities in more or less 
constant and simultaneous operation, morning and 
afternoon. 

Such is the Gary plan in conception. What about the 
execution? Is it reahzed at Gary? Does it work? 
What is involved as respects space, investment, etc., 
when ordinary classrooms are replaced by shops, play- 
grounds, and laboratories? Can a given equipment in 
the way of auditorium, shops, etc., handle precisely 
the same number of children accommodated in the class- 
rooms without doing violence to their educational needs 
on the one hand, and without waste through temporary 
disuse of the special faciHties, on the other? To what 
extent has Gary modified or reorganized on modern lines 
the treatment of the common classroom subjects? How 
efficient is instruction in the usual academic studies as 
well as in the newer or so-called modern subjects and 
activities? Is the plan economical in the sense that 
equal educational advantages cannot be procured by 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

any other scheme except at greater cost? These and 
other questions as to the execution of the Gary plan are, 
as far as data were obtainable, discussed in the separate 
volumes making up the present survey. 

The concrete questions above mentioned do not, how- 
ever, exhaust the educational values of a given school 
situation, f'rom every school system there come im- 
ponderable products, bad as well as good. Aside from 
all else, many observ^ers of the Gary schools report one 
such imponderable in the form of a spiritual something 
which can hardly be included in a study of administra- 
tion and eludes the testing of classroom work. These 
observers have no way of kno\nng whether Gar}- school 
costs are high or low; whether the pupils spell and add as 
well as children do elsewhere; but, however these things 
may be, they usually describe the pupils as characterized 
by self-possession, resourcefulness, and happiness to an 
unusual degree. While different schools and indeed 
different parts of the same school var)- in this respect, 
the members of the survey staff agree tliat, on the whole, 
there is a basis of fact for these obser\'ations. Gary is 
thus something more than a school organization charac- 
terized by the two main features above discussed. 

The reason is not far to seek. Innovation is stimu- 
lating, just as conformity is deadening. Experiment 
is in this sense a thing wholesome in itself. Of course 
it must be held to strict accountabiUty for results; and 
this study is the work of persons who, convinced of the 
necessity of educational progress, are at the same time 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

solicitous that the outcome be carefully observed. 
The fact that customary school procedure does not rest 
upon a scientific basis, does not wiUingly submit itself 
to thorough scrutiny, is no reason for exempting educa- 
tional innovations from strict accountability. The very 
reverse is indeed true ; for otherwise innovation may im- 
peril or sacrifice essential educational values, without 
actually knowing whether or not it has achieved definite 
values of its own. Faith in a new program does not 
absolve the reformer from a watchful and critical atti- 
tude toward results. Moreover, if the innovator for- 
mulates his purposes in definite terms and measures his 
results in the fight of his professed aims, the conservative 
cannot permanently escape the same process. Gary, like 
all other educational experiments, must be held account- 
able in this fashion. Subject however to such ac- 
countabihty, the breaking of the conventional school 
framework, the introduction of new subject matter or 
equipment, even administrative reorganization, at Gary as 
elsewhere, tend to favor a fresher, more vigorous interest 
and spirit. Defects will in the following pages be pointed 
out in the Gary schools — defects of organization, of ad- 
ministration, of instruction. But there is for the reasons 
just suggested something in the Gary schools over and 
above the Gary plan. Problems abound, as in every 
living and developing situation. But the problems 
are the problems of life, and, as such, are in the long 
run perhaps more hopeful than the relatively smooth 
functioning of a stationary school system. Thus, not- 



INTRODUCTION xix 

withstanding the defects and shortcomings which this 
study will candidly point out, the experiment at Gary 
rightly obser\'ed and interpreted is both interesting and 
stimulating. 



I. AIM OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS WORK 

In Professor Richards' report^ it is pointed out that 
the industrial work for boys is not vocational in aim. 
Shop activities are not meant to make carpenters, paint- 
ers and plumbers, but to furnish growing boys with op- 
portunities for the development of senses and muscles 
and concrete experiences which will enable them to par- 
ticipate intelligently in a social order in which industry 
bulks large. Fundamentally, the same principle holds 
of the work in the household arts for girls; that is, it is 
not primarily intended to train expert seamstresses or 
expert cooks. Still, instruction in cooking and sewing is 
not on precisely the same footing as instruction in 
foundry work or carpentering; for, in addition to general 
educative value, the household arts have for girls greater 
personal value and a more intimate social bearing than 
has shop work for boys. 

Besides stenography and t>'pewriting, the Gary schools 
provide instruction for girls in printing, gardening, cook- 
ing, and sewing. The present report deals only with 
cooking and sewing. - 



•See report on Industrial \\i)rk. 

'For printing, sec report on Industrial Work, and for gardening, see 
report on Science Teaching. 



A. COOKING 

II. TIME SCHEDULE AND ENROLLMENT 

COOKING is taught regularly in the elementary 
schools in the seventh and eighth grades, with 
pupils from the lower grades acting as helpers. 
The instruction is condensed into courses from ten to 
thirteen weeks in length, one or two hours daily. Pupils 
must enroll for at least one course one hour daily, and 
may take more. While cooking is thus compulsory for 
elementary pupils, it is optional for high school girls, 
and may be elected by thcni in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, 
and twelfth grades, at the Emerson and Frocbel schools, 
which alone have high school students. During the 
first term, 1915-1916,441 elementary school pupils, includ- 
ing helpers, were enrolled in cooking classes, and during 
the fourth, 280.^ (Tables I, III, IV.) 

The reports from Jefferson, Glen Park, and Beveridge 
do not distinguish between helpers and those regularly 
enrolled, though it may be assumed that children from 

•The greatest care has been exercised in preparing the enrollment data 
for cooking and sew-ing, but owing to the frequent change of classes and 
changes in the make-up of the same class, and to differences in reports 
which we were unable to reconcile, we arc not satisfied that the tables 
are more than appro.\imatcly correct cither as to numbers or grade distri- 
bution. 



4 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

the third to the sixth grades are helpers, rather than 
students (Table I). At Glen Park, of the 78 pupils 
enrolled, 42 took cooking one hour a day and 36 for two 
hours daily from September to December, and all took 
one hour per day from December to April. At Beve- 
ridge, pupils continued in cooking one hour per day 
throughout the year. This is a considerable amount of 
time for elementary grades. It occurred, however, not 
because it was considered wise to stress household arts, 
but because of a shortage of teachers in other depart- 
ments of special work. 

Comparatively few high school students elect cooking. 
Emerson, for example, enrolled during 1915-1916 a total 
of only 32 for thirteen weeks, and Froebel, 57 for ten 
weeks (Table II). They belong chiefly to the first 
two high school years ; no junior or senior elected cooking 
at Froebel, and but two seniors and one junior at 
Emerson. It is to be noted, however, that many high 
schools do not provide household arts. 

The classes in cooking are always small, never con- 
taining over twenty and averaging from twelve to fifteen. 
This would be admirable, if the group were homogeneous; 
unfortunately, a class in cooking is seldom made up of 
pupils from one grade or from closely related grades. 
Not infrequently a class comprises pupils from the third 
to the ninth grades. To be sure, the younger children 
are supposed to assist the older; nevertheless, their pres- 
ence renders difficult the concentration of attention upon 
the needs of the regular pupils. 



TIME SCHEDULE AND ENROLLMENT 



w o 



3 

M 
Z 

u 
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ea 




in 


in 


Pupils 

Enrolled 

1 hr. 

12 

IS 


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Ten 
Weeks 

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infor- 
mation 


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EnroUc'l 

1 hr. 

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26 

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3 

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No. of Pup.I Pupils En- 
Enrolled rolled 1 hr. 


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e £-9 



THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



to 

05 



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TIME SCHEDULE AND ENROLLMENT 



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3 
e2 



8 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

The time allowance for cooking is unusually liberal. 
On the basis of two hours per day for five days a week for 
13 weeks, 130 hours are offered as compared with two 
hours per week for 40 weeks or 80 hours in the average 
school system. This number of hours added to a like 
number of hours in sewing shows that 260 hours may be 
devoted to household arts in a year. On the basis of the 
minimum of ten weeks' cooking for one hour per day 
and the same for sewing, 100 hours are scheduled for 
these subjects. 

But the allowance does not work out in practice. The 
groups are in continuous flux. Pupils are withdrawn 
in the course of a term; new pupils are admitted irreg- 
ularly. There is no record of the make-up of the group 
or of the specific tasks accomplished. The method of 
grading, that is, dividing the grade into A, B, C sections, 
and the change of classes at the end of each ten or 
thirteen week period also add to the confusion. 

While records show the number of girls enrolled in 
cooking classes, it is impossible to say precisely how much 
instruction and experience they have had, inasmuch as 
term lengths are not uniform in the different schools 
and as the periods are sometimes one hour and some- 
times two. Thus, for example, eighth grade pupils at 
Emerson had one hour of cooking daily in the first 
term of 1915-1916, while those who took cooking in 
the second term had twice as much (Table III). At 
Froebel, on the other hand, the eighth grade pupils were 
enrolled for two hours during the first and second terms, 



TIME SCHEDULE AND ENROLLMENT 





•o£ 


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THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



TABLE IV 

ENROLLMENT IN ELEMENTARY COOKING CLASSES, 

1915-1916: FROEBEL 

FmsT Ten Weeks 





No. of 


Regularly 


Enrolled 


Enrolled as Helpers 


GRADE 


Pupils 
Enrolled 










Ihr. 


2 hrs. 


Ihr. 


2 hrs. 


3 












4 


10 






6 


4 


5 


39 


33 


; 


6 




6 


7 






7 




7 


11 


11 








8 


12 




12 






Total 


79 


44 


12 


19 


4 



Second Ten Weeks 



Total 



12 
26 



11 



49 



12 



12 



11 



11 



26 



26 



Total 



3 
4 
5 

6 

7 
8 

Total 



Third Ten Weeks 



26 
28 



69 



15 



15 



23 
19 

4 
17 

2 

"65" 



Fourth Ten Weeks 



13 
2 



21 



26 
13 



47 



17 

19 

4 



40 



TIME SCHEDULE AND EXROLLIMENT ii 

but in the other terms for a single period (Table IV). 
Again, the helper system extends at Emerson as low as 
the third grade, but at Froebel not below the fourth. 
The variation in hours for regular cooking pupils is due 
to the fact that additional time beyond one hour is 
optional. Helpers, however, generally speaking, have 
no choice. They are allotted either to cooking or sewing 
as the program is worked out, in the making of which 
teachers, pupils, and resources are considered. 



III. THE CAFETERIA 

THE work in cooking centers about the school 
luncheon. Many of the children go home at 
the noon recess ; many get their entire luncheon 
at school, while others bring a luncheon from home, 
supplementing it with hot soup, cocoa, or dessert. The 
lunch rooms are open from 11:15 to 1:15. During 1915- 
1916 Emerson served 44,582 persons, including teachers 
and guests; Froebel, 17,842; and Jefferson, 7,889. 

The cafeterias in the newer school buildings are well 
equipped ; those in the older buildings have been arranged 
as conveniently as possible. At Emerson there is a large 
kitchen and separate dining room, tastefully decorated 
by the art students. The kitchen is equipped with a 
hotel size range, steam table, continuous cooking tables 
with individual gas plates, and storage place for uten- 
sils in drawers and small cupboards; a refrigerator, 
wall closets and a supply room, and serving counters. 
The dining room is furnished with substantial oak chairs 
and tables; cutlery and china are provided in restaurant 
quantities. 

The quality of the food supplied is good, and the prices 
are reasonable, as shown by the schedule at Emerson for 
September : 



THE CAFETERIA 



13 



Vegetable soup 

Noodle soup 

Bean soup . 

Corn chowder . 

Cold meat . 

Baked beef hash, Span 

ish sauce . 
Leg of veal . 
Braised potatoes . 
Mashed potatoes . 
Glazed sweet potatoes 
Cabbage 

StufTed tomatoes . 
Sweet corn . 
Stuffed sweet peppers 
Ham sandwich . 
Peanut butter sandwich 
Cabbage and cucumber 

salad 

Orange and grape salad 
Grape and nut salad . 



04 
04 
04 
04 

05 

^5 
07 

03 
03 
03 
03 
05 
03 
03 
03 
03 

05 
07 
07 



Fruit salad . 
Peach tapioca 
Apple dumpling, sauce 
Chocolate pudding 
Apple sauce 
Scalloped apple, cinna 

mon sauce 
Orange float 
Punch 

Grape punch 
Baked apple 
Ice cream 
Apple 
Banana . 
Cake 

Hot bread 
Hot rolls 
Lemonade 
CofTce . 
Cocoa . 



^5 
03 
03 
03 
03 

03 
03 
03 
03 
02 

05 
03 
03 
03 
02 
02 
03 
05 
03 



The average lunch charge per person was, at Emerson, 
13.9c.; at Frocbel, 14.2c.; and at Jefferson, 15c. 

At Froebcl the lunches are cooked and served in one 
room, although there is a small alcove for the teachers 
and guests. The equipment is of the same general char- 
acter as that of the Emerson, though neither so extensive 
nor so complete. Its present inventory value is S750. 

Jefferson shows what can be done on an extremely 
modest scale. A basement room, not originally con- 



14 



THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



structed as a cooking laboratory, has been partitioned 
off and painted white, one side serving as the kitchen, the 
other as the lunch room. A similar use is made of ordi- 
nary basement rooms at Beveridge and Glen Park. 

The entire operating expenses of the cooking depart- 
ments, with the exception of fuel and the salaries of the 
instructors at Emerson and Froebel and half the salary 
of the teacher at Jefferson, are met from the proceeds of 

TABLE V 

'Financial Statement of Emerson Cafeteria, 1915-1916 





NUMBER 
SERMiD 


RECEIPTS 


DISBURSE- 
MENTS 


PROFITS 


September 

October 


3,958 

4,127 
3,869 
4,255 
4,998 
5,080 
4,738 
3,711 
4.851 
4,995 


$ 465.32 
547.08 
540.64 
623.81 
705.24 
739.40 
730.28 
604.04 
653.13 
602.81 


$ 410.62 

499.62 
508.64 
573.45 
674.49 
693.68 
721.70 
576.25 
632.00 
519.24 


$ 54.70 
47.46 


November 

December 

January 

February 

March 


32.00 
50.36 
30.75 
45.72 
8.58 


April 

May 


27.79 
21.13 


June 


83.57 


Total 


44,582 


$6,211.75 


$5,809.69 


$402.06 



the cafeteria. An examination of the receipts and dis- 
bursements, as submitted by the Gary authorities, at 
Emerson, Froebel, and Jefferson is interesting as bearing 
on the question of financing such departments. 

The total receipts at Emerson for 1915-1916 were 
$6,211 and the disbursements $5,809, leaving a net 
profit of $402 (Table V). These disbursements in- 
clude, however, not only the cost of food, but also the 



THE CAFETERIA 



15 



salaries of two adult helpers at a monthly wage of S65 
and S40 respectively, who assist in preparing the lunches 
and do most of the rough work. It also includes pay 
for a pupil cashier, and for pupils who assist in ser\-ing 
and in washing dishes. 

While the Frocbel cafeteria shows a net profit of only 
$22.63 (Table VI), the actual profit was in excess of this, 
for the disbursements include not only the pay of the 

TABLE \1 
1 i\\xciAL Statement of Froebel Cafeteria, 1915-1916 



September . 
October. . . 
November . 
December. 
January . . . 
February. . 
March . . . . 

April 

May 

June 

Total. 



number 


RECEIPTS 


DISBURSE- 


SER\ED 




MENTS 


1.787 


- .- ".(J 


$ 148.94 


1,943 


IJb&i.M 


232.76 I 


1,677 


238.82 


247.80 


1.184 


171.29 


172.69 


2.018 


250.48 


232.57 


2,035 


284.90 


207.22 


1,938 


271.25 


311.57 


1,353 


189.39 


243.36 


2.162 


302.72 


333.33 


1.745 


354.01 


394.30 


$2,547.17 


$2,524.54 



$ 66.56 

36.05 

—8.98 

—1.40 

17.91 

77.68 

-40.32 

—53.97 

—30.61 

-^0.29 



$22.63 



adult helper at $60 per month, but also expenditures for 
equipment amounting to Si 50. 

JcfTcrson makes the best showing of all, for even after 
paying half the salary of the instructor and an assistant 
for two hours a day at $10 per month, there remained a 
net profit for the year of $453.30 (Table VII). In all 
instances it is the policy of the school authorities to use 
the surplus for the benefit of the pupils either in adding 



i6 



THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



to the teaching staff or in improving the equipment. An 
accimiulation of profits is not permitted. 

The financial experience of Emerson, Froebel, and 
Jefferson demonstrates that cooking departments offer- 
ing hmited opportunities may be operated, after the 
original capital outlay, without cost to the system other 
than the salaries of professionally trained teachers, and 
may even be made to pay a part of this expense. 

TABLE VII 
Financial Statement of Jefferson Cafeteria, 1915-1916 



September . 
October . . . 
November . 
December . 
January. . . 
February. . 
March . . . . 

April 

May 

June 

Total. 



NUMBER 


RECEIPTS 


DISBURSE- 


served 




MENTS 


417 


$ 57.15 


$ 59.12 


886 


143.95 


89.97 


649 


71.23 


40.58 


877 


115.65 


62.68 


970 


112.45 


50.13 


520 


126.47 


88.00 


1,099 


191.13 


146.27 


595 


86.69 


64.63 


959 


153.31 


76.31 


917 


125.69 


52.73 


7,889 


$1,183.72 


$730.42 



-1.97 
53.98 
30.65 
52.97 
62.32 
38.47 
44.86 
22.06 
77.00 
72.96 



$453.30 



TV. STAFF AND INSTRUCTION 

THE teachers fall into three groups. Emerson, 
Froebel, and Jefferson have professionally trained 
instructors from the University of Chicago, 
from Cornell University, and from Valparaiso University. 
Their salaries are Si,ooo, S750 and S600 respectively. 
At Glen Park a regular teacher with slight special 
preparation conducts the work, and at Beveridge a prac- 
tical housekeeper, with no professional training, is in 
charge. Practical housekeepers receive from $40 to S65 
a month. 

It is difTicuIt to determine definitely the content of 
the cooking instruction in cither the elementary schools 
or the high schools, since there is no systematic course 
of study for either all schools or any one school. !More- 
over, the year of the sur\'cy chanced to be one of unusual 
disorganization. The teacher at the Froebel school 
had been in the system only since September and was 
preparing to leave, as was also the instructor at Emer- 
son. Teachers changed at JelTerson during the spring, 
and at Glen Park all cooking gave way in April to 
gardening, while at Beveridge nothing more than the 
preparation of the school luncheon has ever been at- 
tempted. However, effort was being made, at least 

17 



i8 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

at the Emerson, Froebel, Jefferson, and Glen Park 
schools, to meet the minimimi elementary, and at Emer- 
son and Froebel the minimmn high school, requirements 
of the State Department of Public Instruction.^ Be- 
yond these minimum requirements, each teacher was free 
to plan and to execute such daily tasks as in her judg- 
ment were calculated to meet local and individual needs. 

As has already been stated, the preparation of food for 
the cafeteria forms the basis of the Gary work whether 
of elementary or high school grade. There are no cook- 
ing laboratories or facihties other than the kitchens 
and utensils employed in the preparation of the noon 
luncheon. The same equipment is used by both ele- 
mentary and high school students and the same in- 
structor directs both groups. The children help to pre- 
pare the food, set the tables, and do the serving, the 
older pupils being held for the more responsible tasks. 

Under these conditions, the content of the cooking 
instruction can be best inferred from typical menus : 

MONDAY TUESDAY 

Cream of tomato soup Roast pork 

Boiled ham Sweet potatoes 

Baked potatoes Stewed tomatoes 

Tuna fish salad Cabbage salad 

Tomato salad Brown betty 

Cup cake Chocolate cream 
Peach dumplings 



1" Domestic Science must be taught to the girls of the 7th and 8th 
grades . . . two regular recitation periods per week." 

"High Schools must provide at least one full year's work." f Bulletin 
No. 17, State Department of Public Instruction, p. 214.) „ 



STAFF AND INSTRUCTION 19 

WEDNESDAY THURSDAY 

Lima bean soup Hot roast beef sandwiches 

Roast beef Scalloped meat 

Boiled potatoes Steamed cabbage 

Banana salad Ham sandwich 

Washington pie Orange salad 

Stew'ed prunes Marble cake 

Steamed pudding 
Lemon cookies 

It is possible to cover the field by means of such 
varied menus quite as thoroughly as by means of defi- 
nitely organized courses, provided the teacher keeps track 
of what the pupils have done and what remains for them 
to do. Unfortunately, however, except in one school 
there were no such records, so that between the absence 
of records and the frequent change of teachers, there was 
danger of repetition without progress. 

Unquestionably, in the Emerson school, where 
individual records were found, the pupils were getting 
broader and more adequate instruction than elsewhere, as 
is apparent from the schedule given on the following page. 

This schedule shows that the instructor responsible 
for the schedule had a plan underlying her w^ork. Note, 
for example, the soup column. The making of cream 
soup of various kinds was driven into a girl's under- 
standing by repetition and yet the monotony was 
relieved by varying the kind of cream soup. By tabu- 
lating what the pupils had done, the teacher had a record 
of accomplislmient to guide herself and her successor. 



20 



THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



« 


Clove 
Sauce 
Baked 

Custard 
Bread 

Pudding 
Rice 

Custard 








J3 

c 


1 =^3fSf^^5g '^w 








1 
> 


cj U cS 
000 

UUU 




! 


g 


'3: 



















■a 
ta 

m 










•a 














-^1 








-w ■« ja 
W Pi W 


•^ S 4> 
</l -rj Ci.'3 in 
fS C g 1) 

mm 






a 

3 


00^ 

u u 


S "tj 2 
uu 


Sen g E Su 

5h5" 


U UUP-i 






1» 

P4 




Ph 



STAFF AND INSTRUCTION 21 

It will be observed, however, that only one girl made 
bread. Obviously an instructor following the one in 
charge, or the present instructor herself, should immedi- 
ately endeavor to give drill in breadmaking and in- 
creased drill in that subject to those who have had little 
or no training in it. 

Children who attend cooking classes at the Frocbel 
and Emerson schools arc urged to repeat at home the 
work performed at school. Only one teacher, however, 
attempted, by means of a report made by the child her- 
self, to hold children accountable for elTort in this direc- 
tion. The following are samples of reports made by the 
pupils themselves, telling what tliey have done at home 
and their opinion of it: 

Student Report of Work at Home 



STUDENT 


DISH MADE 


SUCCESS AS 
JLDCED BY PUPIL 


"A" 


Chocolate pudding 


Excellent 




Boiled rice 


<( 




Creamed carrots 


Good 




Cocoa 


<( 




Caramel frosting 


(I 




Jelly 


Fair 




Baked tapioca 


(4' 


"B" 


Boiled frosting 


Excellent 




Cocoa 


Fair 




Boiled frosting 


Excellent 




Cocoa 


Good 



22 



THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



UDENT DISH MADE 


SUCCESS AS 
JUDGED BY PUPIL 


"C" Doughnuts 


Excellent 


Jelly 


u 


Rice pudding 


a 


Potatoes in half-shell 


Good 


Jelly 


(( 


Creamed carrots 


Fine 


JeUy 


Good 


Rice pudding 


Excellent 



V. TESTS 

FOR the purpose of obtaining objective evidence 
as to what the Gary method accomplished, prac- 
tical cooking tests were given. To make sure 
that the children had at some time had the particular 
dishes to be cooked and were familiar ^\ith the recipes, 
the teachers in each case selected the test dishes. A 
sufficient number were chosen so that each pupil in each 
test group might have an individual task, and in each 
case the pupils drew lots for these. The numbers in 
each test group, it will be noted, are small, but they 
include all the cooking pupils in both Emerson and 
Froebel in grades 8 to 12 inclusive. 

The tests and the results were as follows: 

Group A 

This group of ten ninth grade pupils were set the 
following dishes to cook by recipe : 

Hash (made from cold chops and cold potatoes) 

Mashed potatoes 

Tomato and cucumber salad, French dressing 

Creamed asparagus 

Cocoa cake, with plain frosting 

Banana float 

23 



24 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

The results, when expressed in common, nontechnical 
terms were: 

Hash: Satisfactory, though nearly an hour was spent in 
cutting up the meat and potatoes. 

Mashed potatoes: Satisfactory. 

Tomato and cucumber salad, with French dressing: Satis- 
factory. 

Creamed asparagus: Too much cream. Pupil did not con- 
sider the quantity of asparagus she had. She knew the 
principles of making the white sauce, but did not reason. 

Cocoa cake: Satisfactory. 

Plain frosting: Satisfactory. 

Banana float: A failure. By some error the recipe did 
not specify when the yolks of the eggs were to be added. 

Group B 

Group B, four ninth and tenth grade pupils, had had 
practically individual attention for some weeks. They 
used recipes, and all their dishes came out well; these 
were : 

Creamed cabbage 
Mashed potatoes 
Two-egg plain white 
Tapioca cream 

This same group also wrote on the following questions : 

1. State the most helpful things you have learned in 
your cooking lessons. 

2. In what ways do you help at home? 



TESTS 25 

3. How many ways of cooking potatoes do you know? 

4. Why do we need food? 

In answer to No. i, nearly all the children implied they 
had learned to be tidy; some to measure correctly; some 
to bake. There was no attempt to enlarge upon their 
experience; each child merely stated one or two points. 

In answer to No. 2, all the children reported that they 
assisted at home in washing dishes and cooking. 

In answer to No. 3, it appears that boiling, frying, and 
baking are the three favorite ways of cooking potatoes. 

In answer to No. 4, it was generally stated that food 
builds up the tissues, gives strength and warmth. 

Group C 

Group C, composed of seven ninth grade pupils, 
cooked without recipes. The dishes and the results 
were as follows: 

Kidney bean salad: Satisfactory. 

Strawberry jelly: Used twice as much gelatine as should 
have been used. No sugar added. 

Oatmeal cookies: Not enough oatmeal used. By an unac- 
countable mistake bay leaf was added, giving a very strange 
flavor. Yet oatmeal cookies have a frequent place on the 
cafeteria menu. 

Plain cake: Satisfactory. 

Group D 

This group of ten ninth grade pupils took a written 
test on these questions: 



26 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

1 . For what needs should the income of a family provide? 

2. What are the essentials of a good meal? 

3. What factors should determine the patronage of a 
market? 

4. What do you do in the way of applying your domestic 
science instruction at home? 

5. What are the main classifications of food? 

6. Why is dust dangerous? 

7. What interest has a home maker in a city board of 
health? 

8. What steps would you take to lessen the waste of 
food-stufifs? 

9. What are the characteristics of good bread? 
10. State briefly your idea of a well run home. 

The answers to these questions showed a narrow range 
of knowledge and interest, and a lack of understanding of 
the application of what is learned. For example, to 
these children the family budget (Question i) is a remote 
matter; the interest of a home maker in a city board of 
health, nominal; the ideal of a well run home, weakly 
formulated. 

Group E 

This group, numbering two twelfth grade students, 
one eleventh grade student, and one tenth grade student, 
wrote on these questions: 

1 . What considerations should enter into the selection of 
a home? 

2. What constitutes good buying? 

3. What elements enter into the cost of food? 



TESTS 



27 



4. Wliat kinds of food should an anemic person eat? 

WTiy? 

5. What factors affect the kinds of foods needed? 

6. What influence has woman as a consumer? 

7. How should a refrigerator be cared for? 

8. Give a recipe for bread. 

9. Write a list of the most important kitchen utensils. 
10. Describe the way you would lay the table for break- 
fast. 

Answers to questions 2, 4, 7. 8, 9 and 10 evidence 
emphasis on technique only. Answers to i, 3, 5, and 6 
show a grave lack of general understanding of anything 
but definite facts. The pupils do not draw on their per- 
sonal experience, and evidently arc not able to make 
deductions properly from their general studies. 



VI. MERITS AND DEFECTS 

IT IS not easy to pass a single or simple verdict on 
the instruction in cooking at Gary, for there are 
two sides to almost every one of its characteristic 
features. For example, the introduction of household 
arts into the lower grades through the helper system 
revives in a measure the wholesome participation of the 
child in the activities of the home — an order now all too 
rapidly passing away. But the helper system is not free 
from dangers and drawbacks. The child's interest may 
be deadened. She may conceive positive disUke for the 
household arts, if she is kept at the same routine tasks 
for prolonged periods. To avoid this, helpers should be 
rotated from task to task — an arrangement which does 
not always obtain in the Gary cafeteria. 

Again, young children cannot gain unless they are 
helping older persons who really understand what they 
are engaged in doing. Too often the older girls do not 
measure up to this standard. The instructors labor 
therefore at a threefold task — they guide the older girls 
(their main educational task), keep the helpers out of 
mischief, and must have the school luncheon ready at 
the stroke of eleven. Under this burden the capable 
instructor becomes discouraged; the weak instructor 

28 



MERITS AND DEFECTS 29 

evades her full responsibilities, leaving the practical 
cook to prepare the important dishes. 

So also the cafeteria. Much is to be said in its favor. 
Pupils learn to work with proper regard for time, to 
handle quantities, to consider money values, to con- 
trive dietetic combinations. Thus the cafeteria not 
only suppUes the school lunch, but enlarges the scope 
of school work in cooking and gives practical point to 
the child's effort and interest. But danger lurks in the 
division of responsibility. One and the same in- 
dividual at one and the same time teaches cooking and 
conducts a commercial enterprise: few persons are 
equally interested and equally effective in both fields. 
When, for example, the instructor's attention inclines 
to the commercial side, the scope and opportunity of 
the pupils inevitably suffer. Little or no risk can be 
taken witli tlie food, for the quantities are large and the 
hour approaches. The practical cook therefore scarcely 
realizes how often she prompts the pupils or does things 
for them; nor does the teacher realize how small a part 
of the responsibihty for the menu is borne by the chil- 
dren. The theory is sound that children must learn to 
cook by cooking. But in practice, the importance of 
the immediate practical interests at stake seriously 
compromises the educational view point. Occasionally, 
of course, a girl goes about her tasks vdth assurance. 
At Beveridge, for example, a child ser\'es as assistant 
manager; she does her own work and is capable of assist- 
ing her classmates. But it happens that this particular 



30 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

child has considerable responsibility at home and likes 
to cook. A few children here and there display similar 
characteristics. But, in the main, the exigencies of the 
situation tie the pupils to recipes — paid helpers and in- 
structor constantly aiding even when recipes are followed. 
So wedded are the pupils to recipes that they are well 
nigh helpless without them. 

Cafeteria activities center about the preparation of 
the luncheon; in consequence the afternoon instruction 
in cooking lacks motivation. As a meal is not imminent, 
there is really no program that must be followed. Hence 
the instruction lacks vigor and content; the children soon 
recognize the situation and cease to attend regularly. 
Moreover, the teachers are exhausted by the morning's 
ordeal, and are hardly in condition to attempt a 
systematic effort. A few dishes are prepared — cake, 
gelatine desserts, or bread — by a late afternoon class, 
but baked by another group next morning. On Friday 
afternoon, the children simply mark time, bringing note- 
books up to date or copying recipes, while the instructor 
checks up luncheon receipts, makes out market or grocery 
orders, or looks after clerical details. 

It must be frankly admitted that the results of the 
cooking instruction at Gary are disappointing. It must 
also be frankly admitted that home making in its well 
rounded aspects has not been developed and cannot be 
developed so long as cooking is confined almost entirely 
to the cafeteria. The cafeteria, as we shall point out 
later, has its part to play in^a well thought out scheme. 



MERITS AND DEFECTS 31 

But from the point of view of home making, a cafeteria, 
organized on a large scale, is as far removed from appli- 
cation to the home as were the individual quantities 
used almost universally a few years ago. The cafe- 
teria problems of purchasing, preparing, and serving 
food are quite difTercnt from the problems the house- 
wife faces. 

To achieve the desired results, cooking needs to be 
taught under conditions as nearly hke those of the 
home as can be devised and as are practicable, the 
endeavor being to train a girl so thoroughly that she 
will be able to think in home terms. This requires a 
laboratory kitchen so that the instruction will not be 
sacrificed to the demands of serving the noon lunch. 
Wherever possible the laboratory kitchen should be 
supplemented by an apartment or practice house, where 
the multiple tasks of the household can be carried on 
simultaneously. 

This brings us to the part that the cafeteria should 
play. It cannot take the place of a laboratory kitchen, 
nor can the two be combined. The aim of the lab- 
oratory kitchen is educational — to train for the home ; the 
cafeteria is a business proposition and it must be so 
conducted. But the two may well supplement one 
another. The family meals planned in the laboratory 
kitchen can be arranged according to the cafeteria 
menu, and the food, if up to standard, can be utilized 
for the luncheon. The advanced students in the cook- 
ing classes may at the proper time take their place in the 



32 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

cafeteria, and help with the work during definite periods 
of apprenticeship; the household arts instructor, acting 
as "coordinator," should see to it that the tasks 
assigned are properly graded and that pupils are properly- 
rotated. The cafeteria, if of any size, should be in 
charge of an assistant chosen because of trade experience 
in large scale catering or lunch room management. 
Such a person may or may not have had household 
training. Business experience is the essential require- 
ment. The second asset is the power to guide pupils 
and the willingness to take advantage of their aid. 
The type of organization here suggested frees the house- 
hold arts teacher for teaching and makes her respon- 
sible for education only; at the same time, it obtains 
from the cafeteria certain educational advantages, since 
through it the children get opportunity to acquire skill 
and independence. 



B. SEWING 

VII. TIME SCHEDULE AXD EXROLLMENT 

SEWING at Gary is optional for high school 
i^irls; girls in the elementary school are required 
to take a minimum of fifty hours in either the 
seventh or eighth grade. As in cooking, most of the 
elementary pupils choose to take more. It was found 
that greater numbers were enrolled in the sewing classes 
than in cooking and at a much younger age (Table VTII). 
Although a majority of the pupils in the sewing 
classes come from the fifth and upper grades, pupils as 
young as those of the third grade are found engaged in 
class work. They are not helpers, but students. In 
fact, the helper system is not so conspicuous in the sew- 
ing as in the cooking department; only in rare in- 
stances is it employed. These young children are 
seated in groups at the side or the corner of the room. 
The instructors give them a certain amount of attention, 
teaching them crocheting stitches, how to km't, how to 
put an article of underwear together, and the like. 
They apparently enjoy the sewing room, and seemingly 
do not annoy or hinder the work of the older pupils, who 
have no responsibility for them. 

33 



34 



THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



TABLE VIII 
ENROLLMENT IN ELEMENTARY SEWING CLASSES, 1915-1916 

Emerson 



FIRST THIRTEEN WEEKS 





No. of 
PupUs 


Regularly Enrolled 


Enrolled 


IS Helpers 


GR.\DE 


1 


2 


1 


2 




Enrolled 


hr. 


hrs. 


hr. 


hrs. 


3 


23 






23 




4 












5 












6 












7 












8 












Total 


23 






23 







SECOND THIRTEEN WEEKS 






3 


6 






6 




4 


6 






6 




5 












6 












7 


31 




17 


14 




8 












Total 


43 




17 


26 





THIRD THIRTEEN WEEKS 



3 












4 


8 






8 




5 


33 






33 




6 


18 






18 




7 


12 




12 






8 














71 




12 


59 





TIME SCHEDULE AND ENROLLMENT 35 



Froebel 
First Ten Weeks 





No. of 

Pupils 

Enrolled 


Regularly Enrolled 


Enrolled as Helpers 




1 hr. 


2 hrs. 


1 hr. 


2 hrs. 


3 
4 
6 
6 

7 
8 


5 

39 
18 
15 

16 


11 

15 

1 


15 


5 

28 
18 




Total 


93 


27 


15 


51 





Second Ten Weeks 



3 












4 


24 






5 


19 


5 


;J6 






20 


16 


6 


40 


25 


15 






7 


7 


7 








8 


5 


5 








Total 


112 


37 


15 


25 


:. 







Thirx) Ten 


Weeks 






3 












4 


55 






39 


16 


5 


33 






23 


10 


6 


15 


15 








7 












8 


27 


8 


19 






Total 


130 


23 


19 


62 


26 



Fourth Ten Week> 



3 












4 


22 






12 


10 


5 


22 






22 




6 


13 


13 








7 


15 


11 


4 






8 


5 


5 








Total 


77 


29 


4 


34 


10 



36 



THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 






o 
o 

w 

u 



b^ 







in 






M 




M 






M 


^73 


J 






H 


T- 1) 








M 


rt a 


C<J 






^ 


Is 














§ 


f^W 


i 


O5c<iooio 


Ti* 


t4 




COCOi-H 


05 


H 




1— I 






H 










a 
















w 








H 








H 


•'S.'o 


C3(MOOU5 


Tf 


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O 3 C 


CO CO i-H 


Oi 


fi 










^-a 


u5 


mt> 


(M 

(M 


H 


53 :S 


(M 






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?P c 










f^w 




I— ( 


to 

03 


H 




1-H 






a 
^ 










TS 








••-I u) <u 






g 


• EX'S 


(Ni-HCDCi 


00 


o 


031: 


(Mi-Hi-I 


m 


w 


^^fS 






tn 












tn 






t/3 


^-73 










>5 CJ 

3 2 


(M 












K* 


M S 








^ 


^« 




t-IM«DOO 


CO 


W 




COCOr-l 


C5 


w 




1—1 






















»-( 








w 








H 


73 






N 


0:3:3 

• a 


tXM^DOO 


CO 




3 fc! 


oocoi-H 


en 


^^^ 








w 








§ 


CT>Oi-((M 


3 




pj 


rH T-H rH 


"0 











H 



TIME SCHEDULE AND ENROLLMENT 37 



u 
z 

;2 


^T3 
3 2 


-J 


N 


N 


-^ 




CO 


No. of 

Pupils 

Enrolled 


t-;D?CCT) 


00 

CO 




II 

"? 2 


-J 


»0 NN 


»— 1 




TT CONGO 




No. of 

Pupils 

Enrolled 


Ol CO TJ" U5 




H 

g 



u 

N 
CO 




c^J 


00 MN 


N 


^H *- 


TTOOmtO 


CO 


No. of 

Pupils 

Enrolled 


<MOOt-00 


CO 


U3 

us 

u 
u 

u 
H 

H 

a 


RcRularly 
Enrolled 




N 




-i 


U3O0U3U3 


CO 

CM 


No. of 

Pupils 

Enrolled 


lOOCt-ia 


in 
CO 




a 

< 






CTSO'-CO 





38 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

A group of sixth grade boys also received instruction 
in sewing at Emerson. They learned to sew on buttons 
and were engaged in making caps for workers in the 
steel mills and cloth pencil holders for use in the schools. 

In contrast with cooking, sewing is rather popular 
with high school girls (Table IX). Whether they 
choose sewing in order to gain individual skill or be- 
cause, with the assistance of the instructor, they make 
clothes for themselves and members of their family is a 
question. At all events, they elect it, and, as might be 
expected, follow their choice with varying degrees of 
enthusiasm and ability. 



VIII. EQUIPMENT, STAFF AXD INSTRUCTION 

ALTHOUGH there is a little sewing at Glen 
L\ Park school in the form of busy work, and 
-*- -^ somewhat more at Jl'lTerson, there is really 
no systematic work in sewing except at the Emerson 
and Frocbcl schools. The equipment at these two 
schools is ample for what is attempted, the same equip- 
ment serving both elementary and high school pupils. 
It consists of foot-power and electric machines, model 
busts, sewing tables, pressing boards, and electric flat- 
irons. 

At Emerson, sewing is in charge of an academically 
trained teacher, who also teaches geography and his- 
tory. At Froebel, the household arts instructor di- 
rects the work. In each school there is a practical 
woman assistant, and these assistants do most of the 
teaching. This arrangement .should bring about an 
admirable balance. The practical woman learns tried 
methods of instruction and comes to appreciate the 
step-by-step explanation necessary in guiding pupils, 
while the professionally trained teacher learns the 
"short cuts" of trade work. 

It would be difficult to find a harder working corps of 
trade assistants than those in the sewing departments 

39 



40 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

of Emerson and Froebel. They teach seven hours a 
day and are constantly on the alert. The teaching is 
highly individualized, and, although the pupils are 
assembled in classes, no two members are likely to be at 
work on the same kind of article, or to be at the same 
point even if making the same thing. Each step is taught 
as it comes up. 

Instruction in sewing at Gary centers around the 
practical needs of the children. Accordingly, no course 
of study is marked out. Pupils work on what they 
want or need to make, or on garments provided at the 
request of parents. The teachers buy cotton cloth, 
flannel and dress findings at wholesale, selUng them to 
the pupils at cost, unless the parents prefer to furnish 
material themselves. Thus, a younger sister needs a 
dress, which at once becomes a project, even though 
the elder sister, who is expected to make it, does not 
know how. In such a case the instructor cuts the dress, 
while the pupil looks on. In the making, all the ele- 
mentary stitches are explained and tried before the 
child proceeds. 0\'er-reiinement of execution is, of 
course, not emphasized, as the child would become 
bored and the mother impatient at the delay in finish- 
ing the article. Thus, no time is lost on preparatory 
stitches or on samplers; the children work from the 
beginning on real things. The courses run from ten to 
thirteen weeks in length, varying with the school. 



IX. TESTS 

IX ORDER to ascertain whether the Gar>' children 
receive the explanatory and supplementary in- 
struction necessar}'' to make their practical work 
intelligible, two written tests were given. The ques- 
tions addressed to 2$ ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade 
girls were as follows: 

1. Name the common sewing stitches. Tell how each 
should be used. 

2. Explain a French seam. Give an example of its use. 

3. To do good sewing, what supplies should be on hand? 

4. How do you test a new paper pattern? 

5. What t^pes of persons should avoid plaids? Stripes? 
Bright colors? 

6. What do you consider essential to good gowning? 

7. WTiat points should be remembered in sewing a sleeve 
into a garment? 

8. How can a woman, when buying, influence factory 
conditions under which clothing is made? Explain. 

9. What decides you to choose between ready-made 
and home-made garments? 

10. How much instruction have you had in sev^'ing? 
Name the articles you have made. 

Questions i, 2, 3, and 5 were answered correctly. 
Questions 4 and 7 brought out surprisingly loose, 

41 



42 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

general answers, considering that question lo elicited a 
long list of articles. 

Questions 6 and 9 were answered incompletely, only- 
one factor, as a rule, being mentioned. 

Question 8 was not attempted by most of the pupils. 

The second test was given to 35 tenth, eleventh, and 
twelfth grade students. The questions were as follows: 

1. What considerations enter into the choice of different 
kinds of fabrics? 

2. When is a woman "well dressed"? 

3. How should a paper pattern be altered if the waist is 
too long? If the waist is too short? 

4. Name, in succession, the steps to be taken in cutting 
out a skirt when a paper pattern is used. 

5. Which is easier to make, a shirt-waist of plain ma- 
terial or a shirt-waist of plaid material? Explain. 

6. Explain what a placket is. 

7. TeU how to press a seam. 

8. With what sewing machine are you familiar? What 
are its special characteristics? 

9. How do you figure the cost of an article of underwear? 
10. Write a list of articles you have made at home. 

Questions 3, 5, 6, and 7 were answered, in the main, 
correctly. 

Questions i and 2 were answered in very general terms. 

Question 8 was not answered correctly by a single mem- 
ber of the group, yet all stated the make of a machine. 

Questions 4 and 9 elicited indefinite and inaccurate 
answers. 



TESTS 43 

Question lo brought out a long list. 

The pupils do reasonably well, it will be observed, with 
questions dealing with facts and with questions related 
closely to their experiences, but they are weak when 
called on for general information and for reasoned 
answers. In justice to the pupils, it should be said 
that there is practically no class discussion. And in 
justice to the teachers, it should be remembered that the 
numbers tested are small, that the courses in sewing are 
narrow, and there is no leeway for related work. Though 
the teachers recognize the value of supplementary 
comment and instruction, the opportunities for it are 
very Limited. 



X. MERITS AND DEFECTS 

THERE is no doubt that sewing instruction in the 
past has erred by too close application of the 
A, B, C of technique, and by devoting too 
much time to drill on valueless objects. Gary is to be 
commended for breaking away from this lock-step pro- 
cedure. But in attempting to construct a course in 
sewing around personal and family needs, it is quite 
possible that she has gone to the other extreme. 

The theory of the Gary work in sewing assumes that 
the reality of the task assures the child's interest and 
that, as compared with this, logical sequence in the 
tasks set is of inferior importance. The proposition 
cannot, however, be accepted in this simple form. While 
the older model exercises have been rightly banished, 
some form of regular progress is unquestionably indis- 
pensable. It is the teacher's business to advance the 
child more or less regularly through the main steps of 
plain sewing, dressmaking and millinery, with constant 
regard at each step for the realities possible. Thus, 
merely formal training is avoided; but, on the other 
hand, some consideration beyond the practical needs of 
the moment controls procedure. 

Gary wisely avoids mass teaching in sewing. On the 

44 



MERITS AND DEFECTS 45 

other hand, with its classes of 25 or 30, helpers being 
included, individualization is apt to distract the teacher 
and to dissipate her energies. As each pupil goes her 
own way, it is necessary to make the same explanation 
over and over again, and the teacher is constantly on the 
jump. Far more, we beUeve, could be done for the 
children if they were handled in groups. Certain prin- 
ciples in all household art processes can be demonstrated 
and explained to a number of pupils at one time. The 
majority will be able, as a result of the demonstration, 
to carry out the process, and thus the instructor is left 
free to help those in need of special assistance. 

It may be, too, that this excessive elTort to individual- 
ize instruction accounts for the strain noticeable among 
the practical assistants, especially when this is coupled 
with a seven hour day. A trade day is a day of eight 
hours, it is true, but there are difficulties involved in 
instructing mLxed groups of cliildren which make a 
seven hour day in the classroom more exhausting than 
eight hours in the work shop of a dressmaking estab- 
lishment. 

Again, the emphasis at Gary on actual production is 
commendable, but sewing instruction is something 
more than learning to sew on buttons and hooks and 
eyes, and learning to mend and make simple gamicnts. 
AbiUty to do these things and to do them well is desir- 
able, but it is quite as important that children give 
attention to the kind and character of the garments 
required for different purposes, to the worth and quality 



46 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

of different fabrics, to dyes, and to a multitude of other 
matters essential to the proper background for clothing 
a modern family. 

Owing to the lack of appropriate records, it was im- 
possible to determine the amount of sewing the children 
had had and to judge their accomplishments in the light 
of the amount of time given to their training. Observa- 
tions of the classroom work and inspection of garments 
yielded a few vivid impressions. 

In the first place, the standard of accomplishment is 
by no means high. In the lower grades this may be due 
to the fact that pupils with little or no prior experience 
often begin at once to make garments. Under these 
conditions a finished product of high quality could not 
be expected. Much of the work of the advanced pu- 
pils is also below standard. While it is true that trade 
work and school instruction differ, still, in so far as the 
processes are common, the home making standard 
should equal the trade standard. Gary certainly 
Judges its products more leniently than does the trade. 

Again, the instruction is hardly calculated to result 
in capacity to do independent work. Obviously, not 
much can be expected at the outset of children who 
begin their school work in sewing with garment making. 
The difficulty is that throughout the course the teachers 
are apt to do so much of the thinking that it is doubt- 
ful whether many pupils can, on completing their 
course, put a dress together by themselves. There are, 
to be sure, exceptions and for these the system is en- 



MERITS AND DEFECTS 47 

titled to full credit. That is, there are students who 
sew skillfully and who cut and lit with sureness. 
On the whole, however, it remains true that suffi- 
cient drill is not given in the principles of garment 
making, nor is the power to think, as applied to sew- 
ing and garment construction, satisfactorily devel- 
oped. 

Finally, too little pressure is put on the students; as a 
result, they do not take their work seriously. A degree 
of inattention in the elementary grades is excusable, but 
in the high school grades, there should be e\ddence of 
concentration aiming at a dcfmite object. This was 
by no means commonly in evidence. A class supposed 
to start at 2:15 did not get down to work until 2:35. Of 
a group numbering 14, only nine were occupied. These 
were busy — three on underwear, one on an apron, an- 
other on a duck skirt, a sixth in making bloomers, a 
seventh embroidering a sofa cushion, an eighth, a center- 
piece, and the ninth was cutting out a dress. A monthly 
school paper had just been published and the remaining 
five members of the class were absorbed in looking through 
the issue and in discussing the same. The thread at a 
sewing machine broke. The pupil did not re-thread 
that machine but moved to another. At another time 
a group of girls came into the se\\Tng room and part of 
them went to work. The rest were absorbed in reading 
**The Tempest," which was to be performed that after- 
noon by the senior class. 

In sewing as in cooking, the experience of Gary shows 



48 THE GARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

that mere practical ends — the cooking of the daily school 
luncheon or the making of needed garments — are not 
alone broadly or sufficiently educative. Training should 
aim to give the pupil an intelligent grasp of both subjects. 
The child must of course be able to cut, fit and sew; but 
she must also have an interest in fabrics, designs, uses, 
etc. The instruction must have a conscious, central 
aim; it must touch, now here, now there, the child's other 
studies and activities. 

A course can be conceived and executed in this spirit 
only if there is team play between instructors under 
proper supervision. At Gary, unfortunately, the single 
supervisor of manual work devotes himself almost 
entirely to the industrial work for boys. The household 
arts themselves require the full time of a supervisor. 
Not only is there need of a supervisor to stimulate and 
assist the teachers, but to exercise leadership in solving 
the perplexing problems surrounding the practical train- 
ing of girls, in experimenting with courses of study, or- 
ganization and methods, and in working out connections 
with other studies and especially with the home. 

The foregoing pages endeavor to depict with complete 
impartiality the actual instruction given in the Gary 
schools in household arts and the theory on which the in- 
struction is based. No effort has been made to extenuate 
defects; every effort has been made to do full justice. It 
remains, however, to be said that there is danger that 
such an account as has been given may mislead because 



MERITS AND DEFECTJj 49 

it fails to give the reader a proper realization of the atti- 
tude and spirit of the Gary pupils. These pupils are 
happy and this is a point that cannot be ignored when an 
inventory is taken. In the writer's judgment, the hap- 
piness and spontaneity of the children are due to a variety 
of causes — to the flexibility of the schedule, to the develop- 
ment of special activities, to the absence of repressive 
rules, to the general feeling that the school exists for 
the child, not the child for the school. 



THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE 
GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD 

REPORTS: 

THE GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD: AN ACCOUNT OF ITS ACTIV- 
ITIES, 1902- I9I4. 254 PAGES. 

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD, 
I9I4-I915. 82 PACES. 

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD, 
1915-1916. 86 PAGES. 

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD, 
I916-I9I7. 87 PAGES. 

STUDIES: 

PUBLIC EDUCATION IN MARYLAND, BY ABRAHAM FLEXNER AND 
FRANK P. BACHMAN. 2ND EDITION. I76 PAGES, WITH APPEN" 
DI.X. 
THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, BY THOMAS H. BRIGGS.* 
COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY FINANCE, BY TREVOR ARNETT.* 

OCCASIONAL PAPERS: 

1. THE COUNTRY SCHOOL OF TO-MORROW, BY FREDERICK T. 

GATES. 15 PAGES. 

2. CHANGES NEEDED IN AMERICAN SECONDARY EDUCATION, 

BY CHARLES W. ELIOT. 29 PAGES. 

3. A MODERN SCHOOL, BY ABRAHAM FLE.XNER. 2} PAGES. 

4. THE FUNCTION AND NEEDS OF SCHOOLS OF EDUCATION IN 

UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES, BY EDWIN A. ALDERMAN. 
31 PAGES, WITH APPENDI.X. 

5. LATIN AND THE A. B. DEGREE, BY CHARLES W. ELIOT. 

21 PAGES, WITH APPENDI.X. 

6. THE WORTH OF ANCIENT LITERATURE TO THE MODERN 

WORLD, BY VISCOUNT BRYCE. 20 PAGES. 

* In Preparation. 



The REPORTS issued by the Board arc official accounts of its ac- 
tivities and expenditures. The STUDIELS represent work in the field 
of educational investigation and research which the Board has made 
possible by appropriations defraying all or part of the expense involved. 
The OCCASIONAL PAPERS arc essays on matters of current edu- 
cational discussion, presenting topics of immediate interest from vari- 
ous points of view. In issuing the STUDIES and OCCASIONAL 
PAPERS, the Board acts simply as publisher, assuming no responsibil- 
ity for the opinions of the authors. 

The publications of (he Board may be obtained on request 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 184 374 6 




